Failure to Diagnose Meningitis

Meningitis is a potentially serious illness that may have long-term complications for someone who suffers from it. If you or someone close to you has been harmed due to a medical professional’s failure to diagnose meningitis, we can help. At Arfaa Law Group, Baltimore medical malpractice lawyer Julia Arfaa can review the circumstances of your case and provide you with an honest assessment of your claim. If we take on your case, you can rest assured that we will aggressively assert all of your legal rights and build a strategy that is tailored to your circumstances.

A Failure to Diagnose Meningitis May Have Serious Consequences for a Patient

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines meningitis as an inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. A bacterial or viral infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord typically causes the swelling. Symptoms commonly associated with meningitis include headaches, fever, seizures, light sensitivity, nausea, vomiting, skin rash, and more. The CDC recognizes five categories of meningitis: bacterial meningitis, viral meningitis, fungal meningitis, parasitic meningitis, and non-infectious meningitis.

Since there are a number of different causes of meningitis, it is important for a physician to identify the correct cause so that the proper treatment may be administered. For example, antibiotics are used to kill bacteria that caused bacterial meningitis, but they would not have any impact on fungi that caused fungal meningitis. If a medical professional fails to order the correct tests or read test results properly, a meningitis diagnosis might be missed. If this has happened to you or someone close to you, you can likely recover damages for your harm through a medical malpractice claim.

Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional causes harm to a patient by failing to adhere to the standard of care that a reasonably prudent medical professional in the same specialty would have used under the same or similar circumstances. Medical malpractice cases are fact-intensive and may be complicated to prove. In order to establish medical malpractice, the plaintiff must prove the following elements:

A doctor-patient relationship existed in which the doctor owed the patient a duty of care;

The doctor breached the duty of care owed to the patient by failing to diagnose meningitis;

The doctor’s breach of care was the direct cause of the plaintiff’s injuries; and

The plaintiff suffered some type of harm as a result of the doctor’s breach.

A patient cannot seek proper treatment without an accurate diagnosis. Thus, a failure to diagnose meningitis often leads to a number of serious health complications, even death in some extreme cases. This is why Maryland law allows victims of medical malpractice to recover both economic and non-economic damages, such as medical bills (past, present, and future), lost income, future lost income, pain and suffering, and any other costs arising from the malpractice. If you have lost a loved one, you may be able to recover compensation for funeral and burial costs, medical expenses prior to their death, loss of companionship, and more.

Discuss Your Meningitis Misdiagnosis Case with a Baltimore Attorney

Meningitis is a harsh disease, especially when it affects children. Prompt diagnosis and proper medical care are essential to prevent serious and long-term harm to the patient. If you or your child has suffered adverse health consequences due to a physician’s failure to diagnose meningitis, you need to reach out to a skilled Baltimore attorney as soon as you can. At Arfaa Law Group, misdiagnosis lawyer Julia Arfaa is committed to holding negligent medical professionals accountable for the harm that they cause. We are here to answer your questions and address your concerns at every step of the way. We proudly represent patients and their families in communities throughout the state of Maryland. To discuss your case in more detail, call us at 410-889-1850 or contact us online.